A community resource for monitoring, navigating, surviving, and dismantling the prison industrial complex in Arizona.

Retiring Arizona Prison Watch...

This site was originally started in July 2009 as an independent endeavor to monitor conditions in Arizona's criminal justice system, as well as offer some critical analysis of the prison industrial complex from a prison abolitionist/anarchist's perspective. It was begun in the aftermath of the death of Marcia Powell, a 48 year old AZ state prisoner who was left in an outdoor cage in the desert sun for over four hours while on a 10-minute suicide watch. That was at ASPC-Perryville, in Goodyear, AZ, in May 2009.

Marcia, a seriously mentally ill woman with a meth habit sentenced to the minimum mandatory 27 months in prison for prostitution was already deemed by society as disposable. She was therefore easily ignored by numerous prison officers as she pleaded for water and relief from the sun for four hours. She was ultimately found collapsed in her own feces, with second degree burns on her body, her organs failing, and her body exceeding the 108 degrees the thermometer would record. 16 officers and staff were disciplined for her death, but no one was ever prosecuted for her homicide. Her story is here.

Marcia's death and this blog compelled me to work for the next 5 1/2 years to document and challenge the prison industrial complex in AZ, most specifically as manifested in the Arizona Department of Corrections. I corresponded with over 1,000 prisoners in that time, as well as many of their loved ones, offering all what resources I could find for fighting the AZ DOC themselves - most regarding their health or matters of personal safety.

I also began to work with the survivors of prison violence, as I often heard from the loved ones of the dead, and learned their stories. During that time I memorialized the Ghosts of Jan Brewer - state prisoners under her regime who were lost to neglect, suicide or violence - across the city's sidewalks in large chalk murals. Some of that art is here.

In November 2014 I left Phoenix abruptly to care for my family. By early 2015 I was no longer keeping up this blog site, save occasional posts about a young prisoner in solitary confinement who I've been supporting, Jessie Burlew.

I will miss my work and the people who have supported me - but I have been most especially grateful to the prisoners who educated, confided in, and encouraged me. My life has been made all the more rich and meaningful by their engagement.

I have linked to some posts about advocating for state prisoner health and safety to the right, as well as other resources for families and friends. If you are in need of additional assistance fighting the prison industrial complex in Arizona - or if you care to offer some aid to the cause - please contact the Phoenix Anarchist Black Cross at PO Box 7241 / Tempe, AZ 85281. collective@phoenixabc.org

Perryville Prison

Support pages for Jessica Burlew

17 year old seriously mentally ill prisoner Jessica Burlew has been held in solitary confinement, in the jails of Joe Arpaio, since January 2014 pending trial for the accidental death of the sexual predator who was exploiting her.

AZ Prison Watch BLOG POSTS:

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Call to action: March 14 - Stand with Monica Jones.

Monica Jones should not have to go to court to fight wrongful
charges resulting from a discriminatory and arbitrary arrest stemming
from a department in which she studies.

Monica Jones, a human rights defender in Arizona and an advocate for
the rights of transgender people and sex workers, was profiled and
wrongfully arrested for “manifestation of prostitution” by a police
sting operation and anti-prostitution diversion program known as “Project ROSE”.
Ms Jones had been a speaker at a rally protesting Project ROSE—which is
run by Phoenix police and Arizona State University’s School of Social
Work—the day before. At the time of her arrest, she was not engaging in
sex work, but was in fact walking down her street to the local bar.

On March 14 at 8.30 am (US Mountain Standard Time) Monica’s case will
go to trial at Phoenix Municipal Court. She will plead not guilty and an action is planned
outside the court to show the City of Phoenix Prosecutor that we won’t
tolerate the systematic profiling and criminalization of transgender
people of color and sex workers. Simultaneously on March 14, two sex worker rights advocates will be at the United Nations
in Geneva to bring international attention to Monica’s trial and the
ongoing human rights violations occurring in Phoenix and across the
United States.

We call on people and organizations across the United States,
in the region and internationally to show your support for Monica Jones
and the issues she cares about. We encourage individuals,
organizations, and communities to acknowledge the day in whatever way
they feel safe in doing to raise awareness, to learn and share about the
issues (it could be by viewing online coverage from the United Nations,
it could be through social media action, by sharing a meal, organizing a
public action, writing a letter to the press, through art and so on).

Please email us at bestpracticespolicyproject @ gmail.com and director@desireealliance.org
to tell us about the action you plan and if you would like us to
highlight your action on our websites. If you wish to add your
organization’s name to this call, email us and we would be happy to do
so.

More information about the case, Monica’s trial and the UN action can be found at:

The hashtags #standwithMonica and #notyourrescueproject are being used for social media.

Update on ongoing harassment of Monica: Since refusing to
plead guilty to the charges she is innocent of, Ms. Jones has been
targeted four additional times by police officers while walking around
her neighborhood carrying out everyday activities such as bringing
groceries home or heading to her local bar. Each time, the police use
insulting and transphobic language and threaten her with arrest, despite
the fact that she is doing nothing more than simply walking outdoors.
Across the U.S. and in Phoenix, transgender people of color are
routinely targeted for harassment and hate-motivated violence, by both
police and the public, and are frequently profiled as sex workers by
police. Transgender people are also targeted for cruel treatment in
prisons, including by guards.

Ms. Jones states, “I believe I was profiled as a sex worker
because I am a transgender woman of color, and an activist. I am a
student at ASU, and fear that these wrongful charges will affect my
educational path. I am also afraid that if am sentenced, I will be
placed in a men’s jail as a transgender woman, which would be very
unsafe for me. Prison is an unsafe place for everyone, and especially
trans people.”

Monica Jones should not have to go to court to fight wrongful
charges resulting from a discriminatory and arbitrary arrest stemming
from a department in which she studies. Sign the petition to have the charges against Monica dropped.